The image above shows an unusual boat on the sea at Lower Largo in September 1965. The reader who shared the image was on holiday in the village when his family spotted the home-made vessel and the gentleman that it belonged it.  The family were allowed to take the converted tank out on the water and would love to learn more about the boat and its owner, should anyone be able to share further memories and information. The boat was in fact an adapted aviation fuel tank - the type which hangs down under the wing of an aircraft. 

Known as a 'drop tank', such tanks were used to increase the flying range of fighter planes and were often capable of being jettisoned. First used in the 1930s in the Spanish Civil War, they were also utilised in the Second World War. Could it be that the adapted tank seen at Largo dated to World War Two? Could it be linked to a Fife airfield? After the war, many machine parts became obsolete and some were creatively recycled. Fuel tanks have known to be converted into cars, stoves and items of furniture as well as boats and mini submarines.

If you know anything about this interesting vessel, its origins or its owner - please do let us know by leaving a comment.

Above is an unusual novelty postcard sent from Largo during the First World War. The image of warfare seems an odd choice for a holiday postcard, as does the pun 'things are booming at Largo'. However, it was topical and someone saw fit to send it to their nephew.  Here is what was written on the reverse...

Dear Tom, 
We are spending our holiday at Lundin Links this time instead of Largo. Robert does not spend so much of his time at the shore. He is so taken up with the soldiers. There are a lot of them here. I should have written your mother before this but will do so soon. Glad father keeps busy and trust you are all well. Grandma took a bad turn two days ago and gave us a fright but she is feeling better now.
Trust you are all well. With best love from all to all.
I am your loving Aunt Kate.

This message suggests that Robert is a child who is fascinated by the presence of many soldiers around Lundin Links at the time. We know that the Highland Cyclist Battalion had men in Lundin Links and that soldiers were billeted in houses such as Fir Park and St Catherine's. Many of those soldiers would not have survived the conflict. Of the 284 men of Largo Parish that served in World War One, 51 lost their lives and have their names inscribed on Largo War Memorial. 

The postcard has a flap on the front, which conceals a pull-out strip featuring twelve small black and white photographs from around Largo. These include the usual suspects of the Standing Stones, Crusoe Statue, Upper Largo Kirk, Largo Harbour, Kiel's Den and Lundin Tower. Below are two of the less widely-used images, showing Lower Largo from the sands (west and east views).
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The above image clearly shows the bellcote of Largo St David's Church to the right and the old 'Butter's Buildings' to the left of White House. Below is the stretch between the (almost) the Orry to the left and (almost) Cardy House to the right. 

It is always exciting to find a photograph featuring a Largo-based boat with a clear name or registration number. It provides an opportunity for further research both of the boat and of the owner. The boat seen front and centre of the image above shows KY 289 tied up at Largo pier circa 1900. This half-ton, 23 feet long vessel belonged to David Gillies and was named Violet. For a time boats under 15 tons burden were marked with their registration numbers first, followed by the letter code of their port of registry, hence the marking 289 KY. KY of course denotes Kirkcaldy.
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The postcard image above shows Violet hauled up onto the sands at the Temple, her name clearly legible on the right. There are three men and a boy inside the boat and an older man standing proudly in front of it. It would seem likely that the man standing is boat owner David Gillies and the others are members of his family. This David Gillies was not the net manufacturer of the same name but the fisherman known as "Fisher Davie". He lived between 1836 and 1923 and resided in the Crusoe Buildings.  The same boat is in the same place in the photograph below, with a wider view of the Temple in the background. 

David Gillies was son of fisherman John Gillies and his wife Grace Sharp. David married Mary Simpson (daughter of shoemaker Alexander Simpson) in 1858. They had six children (five sons and a daughter). David was the brother of Samuel Gillies, who lost his life, along with six other Largo men when the Brothers fishing boat was caught in a squall about 50 miles east of the May Isle in 1886. It was David who registered the death of Samuel, as well as the deaths of Samuel's sons John and Alexander. ​
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The Violet was still on the list of boats based at Largo in 1914, when David Gillies would have been aged around 78 years. The full list of Largo's registered boats in 1914 is below, the Violet being the smallest vessel among those listed. Violet is pictured further below in the harbour at Lower Largo with the tide back. David Gillies died in 1923 aged 87 years.
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The 18 October 1932 Leven Advertiser ran the headline above when reporting on the first A.G.M of the Largo Parish Community Council. One of the first priorities of the newly-formed community council was to make "foreshore improvements" at Lundin Links. While this stretch of coast already "enjoyed a remarkable measure of popularity", it was thought that there was "nothing to be gained by standing still" and that they ought to "launch out with a progressive scheme to foster the popularity".

Significantly, estate owner Sir John Gilmour had "shown both generosity and foresight in entrusting the Community Council with the development of the beach". The area in question was between Lundin Links Golf House and Mr Walter Horne's feu, (old pan house) south of the railway line. The aim was "to improve its amenity and hold it as a public recreation and pleasure ground". This was not to be a money making exercise but rather the right to sell refreshments would enable the costs of cleaning and maintenance of any new facilities to be covered. 

The pre-1930s postcard view above was taken on the beach at Lundin Links in front of Massney Braes, looking towards Drummochy and beyond. The flat-roofed Crusoe Hotel can be seen to the right. In the centre (under the words Lundin Links) is the old salt pan house (later joiner's workshop). The sand dune and grassy brae on the left had yet to under go the improvements that the LPCC would carry out. The map below shows the approximate position from which the image was captured. Being a later date, the map shows the shelter built on the braes and the public toilets built at the top of the path going up to Drummochy Road past the pan house.

An early foreshore improvement was to make a proper path alongside the railway at the top of the area. The 17 October 1933 Leven Advertiser piece below tells us that this extended from the 'Creaky Gate' (also referred to as 'Squeaky Gate') at the point where the road crossed the railway at the top of Drummochy Road to the Iron Bridge. Work to stabilise the sand dunes by planting grass also took place. Above is the 27 June 1933 notice to contractors that appeared in the Leven Advertiser in relation to the work.

In addition to the path improvements, other early successes included renting out pitches to vendors selling refreshments such as ice-cream and lemonade and the erection of a shelter (built to a design by Charles Raeburn the LPCC's Secretary and Treasurer). Over time, a water supply and drinking fountain was also installed along with seats, litter baskets, a place for setting fires and noticeboards. The image below shows some of these facilities in place. The Largo Silver Band were allowed to continue to play at the site were they had long performed, being seen as an additional attraction. 

The days of shelters, toilets, play equipment and ice cream vans at Massney Braes may have now gone but this remains a place where people can enjoy walking, sitting, accessing the beach and enjoying the views. Now a bit less managed and a bit more wild, rabbits, wildflowers and butterflies are among the wildlife making use of the space.

As a follow-on from the previous post about the Port of Drummochie, and the heyday of the salt pans there, we can look in more detail at the visible evidence of the old structures around this area. First, for context, a map comparison (above) of Drummochy in 1964 (top) and a feuing plan of the same area from around 1840. Numbered on both maps are:

1. The site of the former Emsdorf School;
2. The Salt Panhouse on the 'Panbraes';
3. Drum Lodge;
4. Salt Girnel (later known as Net House).

These landmarks and others are also annotated on the map below of Drummochy Salt Works from the book 'Largo - An Illustrated History' by Eric Eunson and John Band. This also shows how the pair of skerries of rock directly in front of the panhouse would likely have been dammed to create a 'bucket pot' (basin). Here the sea water would have been held when the tide was out, ready to be drawn up into the panhouse for boiling. More about the salt production process can be read about here.

The aerial image above and the ground level images below show the remains of the harbour structure. Much of the original stone would have been recycled into new building works long ago.  The former 'Pan Braes' became known as 'Massney Braes'. Unable to find any definitive origin or meaning for the word Massney, I wonder if there is any connection to stone masons using this area as a source of material. Opinions welcome on this idea - or evidence of an alternative meaning to the name. It's certainly the case that stone has taken from this area of shore by masons. In 1880, legal action was taken to stop Thomas Tivendale, mason, from "taking stone for building purposes from the seashore opposite Mr Macrae's property". Mr Macrae was Colin George Macrae W.S. of Drum Lodge.
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Above images show specific detail of the old harbour of Drummochie, captured at a time when there was less sand covering the area. The image on the left is the base of the sloping revetment of the harbour entrance (looking back towards Drum Park). The photo on the right is the end of the pier section which projects from the Lundie rocks.

Another historic feature in this vicinity is the man-made extension to the end of the Lundie rocks. Built around the 1830s, in the pre-railway days of the steam boat services, this low-water pier allowed boats to dock, embark and disembark passengers and goods, whatever the state of the tide. The flat platform of cut rocks can still be seen at the Lundies southern tip. The two images above show this from the ground and below is the same area from above. Remnants of iron fixings in the rock indicate a walkway with a bannister once would have assisted passengers from the boat to the shore.

Enjoy a short drone video clip ending at the former Drummochy Harbour here: https://youtu.be/HzIW_B2jxbk

​The "Port of Drummochie" was once of greater importance than the harbour we now know as Largo Harbour. Located in the above aerial image to the left of the Lundie Rocks (the natural strata seen in front of the viaduct), the remnants of this former port or harbour can still be made out, at low tide, as distinct bands of rubble. The circa 1750 Roy Military Survey of Scotland map (below) clearly indicates the symbol for a harbour or port to the west side of the point where the Keil Burn flows into Largo Bay. It was here - on the Drummochy side of the burn - where three salt pans also once operated.

The advert below from 1 July 1771 Caledonian Mercury mentions the "port" right at the start of the description of the Lundin estate, emphasising its importance and later notes that there were "three salt pans adjacent". A similar advert from 1773 elaborates on the description of the harbour at Drummochie, stating that it "is of easy approach and can be made capable of receiving ships of considerable burden at moderate expense".
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Drummochie or Drummochy has had several different spellings over time. It was made a free burgh of barony in 1540 and was then known as Drummoquhy, according to the above extract from the 'The Arms of the Baronial and Police Burghs of Scotland' (1903). Below is the 'Place Name Data' for Drummochy and further below is a piece from 1819 Topographical Dictionary of Scotland stating that, by then, the harbour at Drummochy (and salt works) had been "destroyed".

The demise of the harbour at Drummochy was linked with the end of the salt industry at the site. The 4 September 1784 Caledonian Mercury notice below shows that the three salt pans themselves were put up for sale along with coal fire engine. This sale (four decades after the start of the salt works at Drummochy) was overseen by Ebenezer Coutts, the bailie who lived at what is now Drum Lodge. The loss of the salt industry, plus the existence of the more natural Largo Harbour adjacent, must have meant there was no incentive to maintain the manmade harbour of Drummochy. 

Below are two more aerial images and a view from the ground of the remnants of Drummochy Harbour. Note the two significant areas of boulders, although no doubt many parts of the original harbour structure have long since been reused for other construction purposes. While it's great that some physical evidence of the old port remains today, it would be good to unearth more written information about the harbour in its working days. If you have any information about the former Drummochy Harbour, please comment.
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The previous post looked at the two Durham Schools in Lower Largo and how the old schoolhouse at the Temple car park was superseded by the later school that would become the Durham Hall. The 1836 single room school was left as a ruin for decades until - exactly a century after it was first erected - the remains were cleared away. In the run up to that, it was becoming increasingly clear that the Feuars' Green or Temple Green was needing a bit of attention. Having been neglected for a while, things came to a head after winter storms took their toll on the seafront here.

In 1935 the Leven Advertiser of 23 April reported, under the headline "Havoc on Foreshore", that "time and tide have played havoc with the seats which were erected a few years ago on the foreshore at the Temple, Largo, by the Improvements Committee. During the summer season these seats were a popular rendezvous with the older generation."

This prompted efforts to renew and improve the 'vacant' ground. Discussion ensued around the possibilities for enhancing the space for locals and visitors alike. Later that year the suggestion of creating a children's playground or a putting green on the green created much animation among the locals. As the piece in the 19 Oct 1935 Fife Free Press below indicates, folk were keen to point out that nothing could be done without the unanimous agreement of the green feuars (who had collectively been given the ground many years earlier for use as a bleaching green - see image at the top of the post where white cloth can be seen drying in the corner of the green). Times had changed and no longer was the green needed for bleaching. Its main use had become a convenient 'lying up' place for fishing and pleasure boats off season. A committee was duly established to explore the possibilities for the green. 
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The above update appeared in the 13 June 1936 Fife Free Press, showing that improvement plans were taking shape. By the September, the plans were being executed. The Leven Advertiser (29 Sept) updates on the works to level the ground, remove the ruins of the old Durham School, erect fencing and build a brick wall along the south edge of the green. The old stones from the school building were in fact used to build up the foreshore in order to protect against further storm damage.

Although the green was tidied up, neither the putting green nor children's playpark ideas came to pass. The space is rarely referenced in the later newspaper archives. A rare example from 1937 tells that a Sunday School picnic party from Leslie based themselves at Temple Green. The storage of boats there continued and of course with the rise of the motor car, it became primarily a car park. The brick wall was at some point replaced by the neat stone wall that bounds the car park to the south today. The foreshore and road (created in 1903) to the south remain intact, perhaps in part due to the old stones from the original Durham School.

The previous post looked at the summer visitors to Largo in 1875. The list back then was fairly long but nothing in comparison to later lists such as the 1910 example below. Of course between 1875 and 1910 many changes had taken place in the villages. The feuing of Lundin Links had taken off around the turn of the century. The parade of shops had become established on Leven Road. Many of these shopkeepers made a point of advertising in the local paper right alongside the list of visitors - including Miss Bremner at the Post Office, Douglas the Butcher and Lindsay's Grocer. David Lindsay also had a boot and shoe warehouse that catered for the holiday makers with footwear "for seaside, golf, bowling, tennis".

In 1875, Lundin Mill had 13 houses listed as occupied by summer visitors. By 1910 there were 95 including many multi-occupancy boarding houses and the Lundin Links Hotel. A number of leisure facilities had been laid on by 1910, including tennis courts, a bowling green and the Montrave Hall. The Lundin Golf Club was long-established but flourished with the increase in summer visitors. Many regular visitors were also members of the club. Lundin Ladies Golf Club moved to its current location around this time and no doubt was well-used by many of the holidaymakers too. 

Meanwhile in Lower Largo, the list had also lengthened by 1910 (though less dramatically) from 33 to 46. Notable developments there since 1875 included Rock View, Beach House and Edina View on the sea-side of Main Street, as well as new properties on the seafront by the Orry such as Sunnyside.  Shops here also took the opportunity to advertise, including John Nicoll the grocer and Armit the boot maker (offering sand shoes and canvas shoes).

​Edinburgh and Glasgow were definitely the main sources of visitors. All houses listed now had names - none were described as 'Mrs So-and-so's', as had been the case in 1875. With so many return visitors each year, one benefit of these lists was that families could see who else was staying and reunite with acquaintances made in previous years.

For many decades a list of the summer visitors to Largo was published in the local papers. The above is an early example from the 20 August 1875 East of Fife Record. Compared with later years, this list was relatively short. Later examples were more extensive - once the boarding houses and 'marine villas' of Lundin Links had built around the turn of the century and several developments had taken place in Lower Largo. Nevertheless, even in the 1870s, both Lower Largo and Lundin Mill were known as sea-bathing destinations. The extract below from the 1877 Worrall's Directory speaks of the "considerable number of handsome villas at Lundin Links which are let out to families in the bathing season." These were the early developments at Crescent Road and close to the station.

The list above indicates that the majority of visitors came from Edinburgh - a trend started by the steamers that ran in the early 19th century and accelerated by the arrival of the railway in 1857. However, during this era it was also common for visitors to come to Largo from the inland Fife towns and villages such as Cupar and Auchtermuchty, seeking some sea air and bathing. Some properties are named (such as Viewforth, Marine Villa, Craigie Bank, Goodsir House, Sea View, Drum Lodge and Murree Lodge) while others are recorded by the proprietor's name (e.g. Mrs Davie, Mrs Butters and Mrs Clunie). 

One of the visitors mentioned in the 1875 visitors' list is T.C. Glover at Bombay Cottage. Also known as Bombay Lodge, this property was at the Temple and was owned by well-known civil engineer Thomas Craigie Glover (pictured inset). He owned the property during the 1860s and 1870s and named it after the part of India where he had lived for a long spell and where some of his children had been born. 

His obituary below from the 16 July 1904 St Andrews Citizen tells his interesting life story - from his birth in Leith, to his training as a civil engineer, spell in America and three decades in India where he directed many large engineering projects, including railways, Bombay docks and a huge dam at Tansa. He frequently returned to Scotland for holidays and owned a fine yacht.

He eventually retired to Earlsferry, where he purchased Earlsferry House and became Provost of the place. There is a Glovers Wynd named after him in the village. You can read more about his time there here:

http://www.eliehistory.com/explore/earlsferry-house-part1/
http://www.eliehistory.com/explore/earlsferry-house-part-2/
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He sold Bombay Lodge in 1877, with its five bedrooms, coach house and stable, croquet lawn and vegetable garden (see 1 June East of Fife Record advert at foot of this post). 

The photograph above, from the book 'Seatoun of Largo' by Ivy Jardine, features the yacht 'Semiquaver' which was designed, built and sailed by brothers William and Robert Gillies. This scene of a crowd gathering, to see the impressive vessel launch, was captured around the turn of the century. There were in fact two 'Semiquavers', plus a predecessor named the 'Quaver'. The unusual names reflect the family's great love of music. In fact, they made violins as well as boats. According to 'Seatoun of Largo', the 'Quaver' had a few bars of the song 'Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep' on her starboard side and the opening bars of 'The Boatie Rows' on the port side.

Among the early mentions of the Quaver in the local newspapers, is a piece in the 7 July 1877 Fifeshire Advertiser, noting that she participated in the Kirkcaldy Annual Regatta. The six ton yacht competed in the Kirkcaldy Regatta again in 1878 before that particular event lapsed for a number of years. When revived in 1889, the Quaver returned and won first prize in its category. What ultimately became of the Quaver is unclear but in 1895 a new yacht was built by the Gillies brothers in their workshop at the east end of Main Street close to Cardy House (pictured below when reincarnated as the Gillies Art Studio in the 1980s). Named 'Semiquaver', this yacht is mentioned later in 1895 as winning the Star Cup at Aberdour Regatta.